The 3rd Maryland Regiment was an infantry regiment of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. It served from 1776 to 1783, mostly in the Middle Atlantic Region of the conflict.

Background

The 3rd Maryland Regiment was organized on 27 March 1776 of eight companies from

Anne Arundel Anne Calvert, Baroness Baltimore (née Hon. Anne Arundell; c. 1615/1616G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, G ...

, Prince George's,

Talbot Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot ...

, Harford and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

counties of the colony of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The regiment was authorized on 16 September 1776 for service with the

and was assigned on 27 December 1776 to the main element.

1st Maryland Brigade

On 22 May 1777 it was assigned to the 1st Maryland Brigade. The regiment was re-organized to nine companies on 12 May 1779. On 5 April 1780 the 1st Maryland Brigade was reassigned to the Southern Department. The regiment was relieved from the 1st Maryland Brigade on 1 January 1781. It was assigned to Gist's Brigade on 24 September 1781 in the main

. Three days later (27 September 1781) Gist's Brigade was reassigned to the Southern Department. On 4 January 1782 the regiment was reassigned from Gist's Brigade to the Maryland Brigade in the Southern Department. The regiment would see action during the

Battle of Brandywine The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American Continental Army of General George Washington and the British Army of General Sir William Howe on September 11, 1777, as part of the Ame ...

Battle of Germantown The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American Con ...

Battle of Monmouth The Battle of Monmouth, also known as the Battle of Monmouth Court House, was fought near Monmouth Court House in modern-day Freehold Borough, New Jersey on June 28, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. It pitted the Continental Army, co ...

Battle of Camden The Battle of Camden (August 16, 1780), also known as the Battle of Camden Court House, was a major victory for the British in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War. On August 16, 1780, British forces under Lieutenant General ...

Battle of Guilford Court House The Battle of Guilford Court House was on March 15, 1781, during the American Revolutionary War, at a site that is now in Greensboro, the seat of Guilford County, North Carolina. A 2,100-man British force under the command of Lieutenant General ...

Battle of Eutaw Springs The Battle of Eutaw Springs was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, and was the last major engagement of the war in the Carolinas. Both sides claimed victory. Background In early 1781, Major General Nathanael Greene, commander of the ...

and the

Battle of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...

. The regiment disbanded on 1 January 1783 at

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

Under Gist's command

Gist became colonel in command of the 3rd Maryland on 10 December 1776. On 22 May 1777,

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

assigned the regiment to the 1st Maryland Brigade together with the 1st Delaware Regiment, and the 1st, 5th,

7th Maryland Regiment The 7th Maryland Regiment was authorized on 16 September 1776, for service with the Continental Army and was assigned on 27 December 1776. The regiment was composed of eight companies of wiktionary:volunteer, volunteers organized from Frederic ...

s. During the

on 11 September 1777, both the popular brigade commander

William Smallwood William Smallwood (1732February 14, 1792) was an American planter, soldier and politician from Charles County, Maryland. He served in the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of major general. He was serving as the fourth Governor ...

and Gist were on detached duty recruiting the Maryland militia. This left the disliked Frenchman

Philippe Hubert Preudhomme de Borre Philippe Hubert, Chevalier de Preudhomme de Borre (17 September 1717 in Liège – 30 May 1789 in Brussels) joined the French Army in 1740 and served in the War of the Austrian Succession. During the American Revolutionary War he traveled to Ameri ...

as the senior brigadier. The regiment was in John Sullivan's division on the right flank, guarding Brinton's Ford while other elements of the division guarded three upstream fords. Finding that the greater part of Sir William Howe's army had marched into the right rear of his division, Sullivan had to march cross country in an attempt to block the move. Finding his division in an awkward position, Sullivan rode off to confer with

Adam Stephen Adam Stephen ( – 16 July 1791) was a Scottish-born American doctor and military officer who helped found what became Martinsburg, West Virginia. He emigrated to North America, where he served in the Province of Virginia's militia under Georg ...

and

Lord Stirling William Alexander, also known as Lord Stirling (1726 – 15 January 1783), was a Scottish-American major general during the American Revolutionary War. He was considered male heir to the Scottish title of Earl of Stirling through Scottish line ...

and ordered De Borre to shift the division to the right. The inept Frenchman botched the evolution, throwing the troops into disorder just as they came under attack by the

Brigade of Guards The Brigade of Guards was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1856 to 1968. It was commanded by the Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and was responsible for administering the guards regiments. After the Second Wor ...

. According to John Hoskins Stone, commander of the 1st Maryland, only his regiment and the 3rd put up a creditable fight. As they tried to resist the oncoming British, the confused 2nd Brigade mistakenly fired a volley into the two regiments from behind. The badly mishandled Marylanders then fled. Gist commanded the 3rd Maryland at the

. He led the 3rd Maryland until 9 January 1779 when he was promoted brigadier general in command of the 2nd Maryland Brigade.

Battle of Monmouth

At Monmouth, the regiment was commanded by Colonel

Mordecai Gist Mordecai Gist (1743–1792) was a member of a prominent Maryland family who became a brigadier general in command of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Life Gist was born in Baltimore, Maryland (on ...

while its second-in-command was Lieutenant Colonel

Nathaniel Ramsey Nathaniel Ramsey (May 1, 1741– October 23, 1817) was an American lawyer and soldier from Cecil County, Maryland, Cecil County, Maryland. Ramsey fought in the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, and was a member of the Congress of ...

. Ramsey was detached to Colonel James Wesson's detachment under Brigadier General

Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his mil ...

. Early in the battle, Wesson was wounded and Ramsey assumed command of his detachment.Presumably, part of the regiment was detached with Ramsey, but this is not directly stated by the source. Surprised by a sudden British counterattack, the American advance guard began to retreat. Washington personally asked Ramsey and Colonel Walter Stewart to hold off the British while he arranged the main line of defense. The two officers agreed and Wayne deployed their soldiers in a nearby wood. As the Brigade of Guards came up to their hidden position, the Americans opened fire into their flank. The Guards charged and cleared the wood after a tough fight in which they lost 40 casualties including Colonel Henry Trelawney wounded. Stewart was shot and carried off. The retreating Americans were set upon in the open by a troop of the

16th Light Dragoons The 16th The Queen's Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, before being amalgamated with the 5th Royal Irish Lancers to form the 16th/5th Lancers in 1922. History Early war ...

. A dragoon rode up to the unhorsed Ramsey and fired at him with his pistol. The weapon misfired and Ramsey attacked the trooper with his sword, dragged him from his horse, and tried to ride away. Surrounded by dragoons, Ramsey was badly wounded and left for dead. Later, the British picked him up as a prisoner. Impressed by his bravery, the British commander Sir Henry Clinton paroled Ramsey the next day. Ramsey was not exchanged until December 1780.

Notes

References

External links

Bibliography of the Continental Army in Maryland
compiled by the

United States Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Arm ...

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2013 Maryland regiments of the Continental Army 1776 establishments in Maryland 1783 disestablishments in Maryland